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Thursday, September 20, 2007
Totally clips
Some videos (and one slideshow) for your entertainment this morning:
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Who is our economy for?
Heard a well-spoken commentary by Robert Reich tonight on Marketplace.
It begins:
A few weeks ago, the president justified his bare-bones plan to help out a few of the millions of homeowners who got caught in the sub-prime loan mess, explaining "it's not government's job to bail out... those who made the decision to buy a home they knew they could not afford."
But yesterday, the Fed justified its rate cut by citing turmoil in financial markets as a threat to economic growth. Ben Bernanke, the Fed chief, says he's determined to take whatever action is needed to "promote the orderly financing of markets." Read: Bail-out the big lenders, credit rating agencies, financial intermediaries, hedge funds and all the well-paid executives behind them -- because they're simply too big to fail.
When it comes to risky behavior in the market, America has a double standard. Average workers and small businesses get clobbered for mistakes like borrowing too much money.
Yet the big guys with lots more information and experience evaluating risk are let off the hook.
He goes on, with further examples from history and recent legislative changes that further entrench the status quo, before concluding:
The subprime mortgage saga is the same old story: The little guys get tough love, the big guys get forgiveness.
Ancient history
There's a meme making the rounds to check Google Groups and find the date and group of your earliest recorded Usenet posting.
The earliest post DejaGoogle has from me was: Feb 12 1990, 8:03 pm in rec.arts.comics.
I'm not certain that's actually my earliest post ever -- it's the middle of a discussion, and I see no place where I initially delurked or introduced myself -- but if that's not my first post, it's still within the first month I had Usenet access.
Of course, many of my early conversations have been lost, because the Brandeis newsgroup local.devilbunnies does not appear to be archived anywhere -- and I'm not sure whether that's a good or bad thing...
Marlowe: whose darling?
In comments, Mary Kay says:
I'm on a quest to understand the widespread obsession about the man among my friends and acquaintances. I mean, I've read some of his plays -- I *was* a Lit major as an undergrad, but apparently the romance escaped me.
I'm not sure you can get the "romance" from his writings alone, because it mostly comes out of the biographical record.
Ages ago, I described Marlowe as:
“an Elizabethan James Dean -- lived fast, died young, and left a good-looking corpus.†”
Despite my original flippant intent, that remark holds a great deal of truth.
The latest article I've read is Marlowe's Lives by Jeffrey Meyers (Michigan Quarterly Review Summer 2003). It's primarily about 20th century biographies of Marlowe, but also looks at a few major works of fiction.
It also provides one of the more concise summaries I've seen for the continuing interest:
Marlowe has the irresistible appeal of a genius killed in his prime, his promise unfulfilled.
...
There are four mysterious areas of Marlowe's life: 1)his homosexuality, 2)his atheism, 3)his involvement in espionage, and 4)the circumstances of his death. The evidence about them is suggestive but inconclusive, which helps explain the endless fascination of his life, character, and connections.
This parallels something I wrote in 2004:
He was a poor boy made good: poet, playwright, and spy. His enemies accused him of atheism, and he was also possibly homosexual or bisexual -- negative traits until the last half-century, which now give him an even more modern appeal.
Marlowe as a character gives writers access to a wide swath of Elizabethan settings and notables: the theaters, espionage, nobility (his patrons), the court (the previous two, plus his rumored association with Sir Walter Ralegh)... From the dregs of the sewers to the upper echelons, there are enough holes in his biography that you can read any of those into his circle.
For mystery writers, the uncertainties surrounding Marlowe's death provide a marvelous unsolved crime. Fantasy writers seem to have noted that Doctor Faustus is fantasy fiction, and springboard from that. And for alternate history buffs, he certainly left behind a lot of unfulfilled potential.
Does that help at all? Anyone else care to take a stab at it?
Talk Like A Pirate Day: Shakespearrrrre
Shakespeare makes slightly over a dozen references to pirates within his plays.
I think everyone is in reasonable agreement which are the best two: Runner-up:
Hamlet Act IV, Scene 6: [a letter from Hamlet, read aloud by Horatio]
Ere we were two days old at sea, a pirate of
very warlike appointment gave us chase. Finding ourselves too
slow of sail, we put on a compelled valour, and in the grapple I
boarded them. On the instant they got clear of our ship; so I
alone became their prisoner. They have dealt with me like thieves
of mercy; but they knew what they did: I am to do a good turn for
them.
The winner, hands down:
Pericles Act IV, Scene 1: [Enter Pirates]
First Pirate: Hold, villain!
[LEONINE runs away]
Second Pirate: A prize! a prize!
Third Pirate: Half-part, mates, half-part.
Come, let's have her aboard suddenly.
[Exeunt Pirates with MARINA]
Leonine: These roguing thieves serve the great pirate Valdes;
And they have seized Marina. Let her go:
There's no hope she will return.
And here are all the rest:
| History Plays: | | Comedies & Tragedies |
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- Henry VI, Part II Act I, Scene 1:
- Richard Plantagenet (Duke of Gloucester):
Pirates may make cheap pennyworths of their pillage
And purchase friends and give to courtezans,
Still revelling like lords till all be gone
- Henry VI, Part II Act IV, Scene 1:
- Earl of Suffolk:
Small things make base men proud: this villain here,
Being captain of a pinnace, threatens more
Than Bargulus the strong Illyrian pirate.
- Henry VI, Part II Act IV, Scene 1:
- Earl of Suffolk:
Great men oft die by vile bezonians:
A Roman sworder and banditto slave
Murder'd sweet Tully; Brutus' bastard hand
Stabb'd Julius Caesar; savage islanders
Pompey the Great; and Suffolk dies by pirates.
- Henry VI, Part II Act IV, Scene 9:
- Henry VI:
Thus stands my state, 'twixt Cade and York distress'd.
Like to a ship that, having 'scaped a tempest,
Is straightway calm'd and boarded with a pirate:
- Richard III Act I, Scene 3:
- Queen Margaret:
Hear me, you wrangling pirates, that fall out
In sharing that which you have pill'd from me!
Which of you trembles not that looks on me?
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- Antony and Cleopatra Act I, Scene 4:
- Messenger:
Menecrates and Menas, famous pirates,
Make the sea serve them, which they ear and wound
With keels of every kind
- Antony and Cleopatra Act II, Scene 6:
- Pompey:
I must
Rid all the sea of pirates
- Measure for Measure Act I, Scene 2:
- Lucio:
Thou concludest like the sanctimonious pirate, that
went to sea with the Ten Commandments, but scraped
one out of the table.
- Measure for Measure Act IV, Scene 3:
- Provost:
Here in the prison, father,
There died this morning of a cruel fever
One Ragozine, a most notorious pirate
- Merchant of Venice Act I, Scene 3:
- Shylock:
But ships
are but boards, sailors but men: there be land-rats
and water-rats, water-thieves and land-thieves, I
mean pirates, and then there is the peril of waters,
winds and rocks.
- Twelfth Night Act V, Scene 1:
- Orsino:
Notable pirate! thou salt-water thief!
- Twelfth Night Act V, Scene 1:
- Antonio:
Orsino, noble sir,
Be pleased that I shake off these names you give me:
Antonio never yet was thief or pirate
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It's their own damn fault!
By which, I mean The Boston Herald.
Update: The Red Sox have 10 more games in the regular season: tonight, Sep 21-23 (3), Sep 25-30 (6).
Also, via Universal Hub, further humor about the situation.
Talk Like A Pirate Day: The Pirate Alphabet
Ahoy, me hearties, yo-ho!
It's September 19th, and you know what that means...
And today, I have a verrry special treat for all ye lads an' lasses wishin' t'better ken the pirate lingo.
Back in 1981, Michael Nesmith (formerly the wool-cap-wearing member of the Monkees) created an award-winning video of music and comedy shorts called Elephant Parts (well worth watching).
Demonstrating extraordinary prescience, one of the recurring segments in this hour-long program was The Pirate Alphabet:
This was follwed by four more segments, interspersed randomly among the longer comedy skits and music videos:
- The Pirate Alphabet: “A”
- The Pirate Alphabet: “O”
- The Pirate Alphabet: “T”
- The Pirate Alphabet: “S”
For the impatient sort, here's a playlist with all five videos in sequence.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Hobby hoarse
So, I'm continuing to build a bibliography for the paper I never intended to write.
For anybody wishing to follow along, to last week's list of cites, append:
I've also requested a half-dozen books through interlibrary loan (some directly relevant, others merely of personal interest or for ideas on organization): Meanwhile, since I've never submitted for scholarly publication, I have to figure out how to compose an abstract for an article that hasn't yet been written. Anyone have advice or useful examples?
Monday, September 17, 2007
Week at a glance
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Savage Chickens is a daily comic by Doug Savage.
I'm rather fond of Eight Steps (left image).
But when I showed it to Ian, he countered that to accurately depict my life, I can omit steps 2 and 6, and just replace them with a repeat of step 4.
So I did (right).
What do you think?
Looks like I won a game of tic-tac-toe.
What modifications are needed for your life to map to this cartoon?
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Sunday, September 16, 2007
Amen v'amends
It's that time of year again:
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It's the Days of Repentance, the period of time between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur when we try to repair any damaged relationships we have with each other.
If there is anything which I did over the past year which hurt or upset you, please let me know. If you are willing to share it publically, please leave a comment below; if you'd like to discuss it privately, send me an email.
I will see whether I can make amends, and make right anything which I have done wrong, and make changes to prevent repeating such wrongs in the future.
I don't promise that I can. But I do promise that I will try. |
Also time for my annual pointer to the Al Chet for electronic communications for those who feel they have anything to atone for in that arena.
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